Martin and Lessard post season high ninth on World Tour

STARE JABLONKI, Poland – Marie-Andrée Lessard of Ville LaSalle, Que., and Annie Martin of Sherbrooke, Que., posted a season high ninth place finish at the 12th stop on the beach volleyball World Tour Circuit.

The competition was also part of the Grand Slam Series which nearly doubled the prize money to $300,000 for both the men and women.

On Friday, Lessard and Martin, seeded 26th, opened the day with a 31-29, 21-13 victory over Hana Klapalove and Lenka Hajeckova of the Czech Republic in the first round of the playoffs which put the Canadians in the round of 16.

In their second match, Lessard and Martin fell to Ekaterina Khomyakova and Anastasia Vasina of Russia 16-21, 21-16, 15-11.

“We are very pleased,” said Lessard. “Our goal was to be in the top-16. We relied a lot of on our defence to win that first game against the Czechs and Annie served very well. The Russian girls were very tall and their physical game went against us.”

The Canadians had a bye to the main draw and went 2-1 in round robin play beating two teams ranked in the top-10. They earned $8,000 in prize money for this week’s performance.